ABSTRACT
Out of the plains of southern Vera Cruz rises the range of Los Tuxtlas, an imposing cluster of volcanoes forming a gigantic bowl of rich, dark earth blanketed with luscious tropical vegetation, crisscrossed by rushing rivers and studded with waterfalls and calm volcanic lakes. The highest, most turbulent of these volcanoes is the peak of San Martin. Now dormant, it erupted furiously for the last time in March 1783. An eyewitness, Joseph Mariano Mozifio, scientist and explorer, left us a vivid description of the awesome subterranean rumblings that preceded a great column of fire that rose from the crater “like shooting fireworks.” A motley crowd of peasants jammed the second-class section of our rickety car; the other half was occupied by middle-class merchants, little dark men with trim mustaches, obviously government or railway officials, and a peculiar affluence of German chemical traveling salesmen who looked, acted, and talked like Nazi agents.
